Pittsfield awaits word from state on Taconic plans

PITTSFIELD – After some intensive work by school administrators and officials, the district is now in a “holding pattern,” waiting to hear back from state organizations on the future of Taconic High School.

A vocational education plan for the school was submitted to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) earlier this month, and with approval from that organization, it will then go before the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) for approval on beginning a feasibility study for Taconic.

“Being in the pipeline means waiting for DESE to nod to MSBA,” Pittsfield Public Schools Interim Superintendent Gordon L. Noseworthy said.

“We are in a little bit of a holding pattern at this point,” School Building Needs Commission Co-Chair Kathleen A. Amuso (who is also on the school committee) added. “Sometimes it can be months, but we’re hoping it’ll be shorter than that. We really don’t know though.”

Once approved by DESE and MSBA, the next step of the project will be in the hands of the SBNC.

“We look forward to the next step,” said SBNC Member (and School Committee Secretary) Katherine Yon.

The feasibility study is expected to cost the City of Pittsfield $1.3 million, with 78 percent reimbursable, as pointed out by Mayor Daniel L. Bianchi. Dr. Noseworthy said the designers hired as part of this step in the process would include a variety of options in adding on to Taconic, renovating it and building a completely new school.

“Your work will really be cut out for you when you get to that stage of the game,” he told the SBNC.

Ms. Amuso made it clear that taking the extra two months to speak to community members and revise the education plan was part of the process.

“[DESE] expected us to have the conversations we had,” she said, adding it was crucial to have that community involvement.

“We want to do what’s right for the community; we want to do what’s right for the students,” she said.

“We were told by DESE it has to be a thorough community discussion,” Mayor Bianchi added.

Meanwhile, some of the aspects of Taconic’s educational plan are already moving forward, according to Dr. Noseworthy.

Part of the plan includes varying the educational experience for vocational students by having one week of vocational coursework followed by a week of regular educational coursework. The week on-week off scheduling is anticipated to start in the 2013-2014 school year.

Posted by Catherine M. Krummey on March 28, 2013. Filed under Education News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry